50 Tips for Surviving Mars

A game Guide and Tutorial for both complete beginners and experienced players. With 50 tips and tricks to help you survive on Mars!
Surviving Mars 485% Difficulty Full Playlist - bit.ly/2D3LHSu
The game was provided free by the developers for preview purposes.
Support Skye on Patreon ► / skyestorme
Humble Bundles (Big Discounts On Games) ► www.humblebundle.com?partner=skyestormegaming
Chrono.gg (Big Discounts On Games) ► chrono.gg/skyestorme
(Use the link above to see today's offer. A new game on offer every 24 hours!)
Skyes Merchandise (EU) ► skyestorme.spreadshirt.co.uk/
Skyes Merchandise (US) ► skyestorme.spreadshirt.com/
Skye on KZbin ► bit.ly/2azhPSP
Skye on Twitch ► / skyestorme
Skye on Twitter ► / xskyestormex
Skyes PC Spec
------------------------
CPU: Intel i7-4790k @4 GHz
RAM: 16GB
GPU: MSI NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080 GAMING X 8GB GDDR5X
End Titles Music:
Tobu - Candyland
Tobu Official KZbin - / tobuofficial

[@TheMementoMori]

The most mind blowing tip for me was the solar panels in dome! Way less maintenance.

[@thomaskositzki9424]

Best thing: they are not shut down by dust storms - quite important on storm-rich maps and more difficult playthroughs.

[@larrylindgren9484]

@@thomaskositzki9424 Wasting a dome on solar panels? Not me. Metals to repair make them almost free. Yes they'll work in storms. But If a solar panel is reason your power network works. You've already lost. They help power batteries during the day. Not saying panels are bad. But wasting a dome on them is And if you are playing a harder game where resources are lower. It's a waste. By the time you can waste a dome on panels you probably don't need them anymore anyway.

[@thomaskositzki9424]

@@larrylindgren9484 I never said I am using a dome exclusively for panels, as you are right, they are way to expensive. But usually I have one or two complete building spaces filled with gardens for improved comfort. In storm enviroments I replace part of these with solar panels. It is needed when you just don't have enough ressources for sufficient amounts of wind turbines and batteries to get you through a 3-day-strom. I just want to mention something else: have a look how you talk to me. It sounds like I am a complete idiot. I already played matches with 550% difficulty (maxed out disasters) and won. So I know what I am talking about and that tactic was vital.

[@goransvraka3171]

You can also put Stirling Generators in there too

[@mattbrassfield2291]

theres is a technology thats a tier 2 in engineering tree that automatically cleans your solar panels when they are close, henceforth no more maintenance on them, but still think wind turbines with a very early tech upgrade is way to go especially since there is no *drawback* --- well cost of mats.

[@Karagianis]

Important tip here, always disable fuel from universal depots. If a meteorite hits a fuel store it blows up destroying all the fuel in that depot. But if there's even one fuel in a universal depot and it gets hit you loose not only the fuel, but everything else on the depot with it.

[@irend1163]

Then how about fuel storage😂😂

[@candlestyx8517]

I normally store my fuel between the landing pads. Away from other depots

[@archiesutherland1105]

@@irend1163 Well, you just lost 4000 fuel, I guess😂

[@archiesutherland1105]

Yep that is a tip most people ignore but its so painful when you forget it.

[@sO_RoNerY]

*lose* not only the fuel, but everything else on the depot with it". Fixed.

[@benwang1275]

Skye Storme: Don't play easy mode, that is too boring. Me: Playing very easy and all colonists die because of starving......

[@flyingfleas7780]

My first play through was literally so difficult on easy mode

[@HeilielPrince]

Yeeeaaah

[@oneshotweeb5923]

Surviving mars is hardcore survival simulator

[@gregzc9395]

yeah like genuinely while you're learning the game easy mode is difficult enough

[@fredrikronnberg684]

@@gregzc9395 I have a feeling the game has changed since he made this video. Using the settings he suggested it gives me a difficulty mode of 210% instead of the 120% you see in his video, and the default "easy mode" has a difficulty setting of 120% now. IDK if the % have changed meaning or if they've simply increased the difficulty of the game, though. But many things have likely changed in the 3 years since this video was released.

[@Kulzar]

This video should be mandatory viewing for every new player of Surviving Mars! Even after watching you play, and finishing a playthrough myself, there are things I didn't know you could do. For example, I didn't understand what a heavy workload was before you showed it, and I didn't know you could put solar panels in domes! So thanks for all these tips!

[@yepjustanormalfan]

Didn't surviving mars updated?

[@Microphunktv-jb3kj]

dont car emuch about the setting of this game, but the engine or technical aspects are interesting... a competitive rts like that sounds interesting... games like wc3 and sc2 seem too simplistic for my taste these days.. ;]

[@Hedning1390]

Tip: You don't have to micromanage workers. They will automatically seek out suitable jobs over time and the university will also train people for what is lacking. Make good use of the deny and preferred options, but don't sit and move workers individually. I see a lot of reviews complaining about how they spend hours moving individual workers only for it to not work, be incredibly tedious with high populations, and ultimately be undone when they die of old age. I think it would have been better if the ability to move individual people were simply removed from the game since it is confusing so many players.

[@kolyashinkarev7366]

My workers refuse to use dedicated jobs, for example I have a farming dome, but biologists just refuse to move there, they even sometimes work on the farms from another dome, and houses in my farming dome are packed with engineers who work in factories in another dome, so no, they are pretty dumb

[@Hedning1390]

@@kolyashinkarev7366 Like I said; make good use of deny and preferred.

[@kaiserslavaniaashur1623]

“Its over anakin! I gave my turbines the high ground!”

[@tonymurphy4379]

You underestimate my turbines power

[@bigbear3409]

dodoeoin the gamer Don’t try it anakin!

[@jnwestray78]

Bad star wars joke... go to your room :P

[@christopherdayringer9307]

Vaporator tip, you can have the outer borders overlap. You only lose efficiency if the borders overlap another vaporator itself.

[@SkyeStorme]

Good tip :)

[@paulvalery9778]

TIL!

[@raidermaxx2324]

you should do a new one, covering all the DLC content, especially the terraforming of mars.. anyways thanks again.

[@rainierpeters2532]

Yes!

[@spamuel98]

NOTE: The location Skye picks in this tutorial HAS BEEN CHANGED, so no easy resource locations for you, although the threat levels do stay the same.

[@Probigask]

spamuel98 do you know how to switch radio station in survivng Mars?

[@dodobird6863]

@@Probigask Bottom right corner

[@Probigask]

Oh thanks

[@spamuel98]

@@Probigask There's a radio in Surviving Mars?

[@Probigask]

spamuel98 yeah u also Got the game free? but there is

[@GlassDeviant]

You forgot that it's better to have one or two full shifts and shut down the other(s) than three partial shifts, as this will save energy by consuming none during the unused shift. Combining this with making the night shift the off one reduces your reliance on batteries through the night.

[@stevereaver]

This game is so freaking complicated!

[@EnthrallingBass140]

Stephen Bancroft once you get a hang of it, it takes longer for you to lose.

[@jens.einzelgaenger.mp4]

I said that the first two tries, now I can't put it down.

[@candlestyx8517]

It isnt hard, the hardest part is the early game.

[@elitepacman9953]

So is life

[@austinteal3645]

@@elitepacman9953 My life is E uwu

[@dulaw6055]

Awesome video Skye! Keep them coming.

[@dumpling5919]

That deserves a like...a very detailed explanation and through walk around about the game. i have seen all your surviving mars, in fact its what lead me to subbing you. its ashame you didn't have artificial sun wonder it would've been awesome sight. Keep playing it try different difficulty and handicaps .

[@stw1549]

Great video, especially for someone used to playing building games. Excellent snapshot of info and great delivery with tons of great tips for new player. Thanks for making this!

[@stickkey]

Thx, I really liked it during the free weekend and picked up the complete edition and I'm loving it :D Very handy tips, I've been only screwing up so far.

[@Bicketybam68]

That was awesome, cheers mate. Some fantastic tips there.

[@nannygiggles8871]

Bickety Bam What he said 👆🏼👌🏼

[@muhammadraflihkhadafi8439]

Damnit man, you're amazing at this stuff, always helping for those who are new at simulator type of game, keep up the good job bro!!

[@ateteu_]

I'd also recommend not placing too much stuff together. Meteors at high level, can totally break your collony if they hit water tanks or oxygen tanks packed together

[@SgtSamuel1]

Excellent vid! Recently found your channel because of surviving mars and I'm loving your commentary! Hope you do another series in surviving mars. :)

[@krosa2471]

Great video. Was missing your videos. Good timing.

[@dpm911]

man this was more in depth then the in game tutorial. good job

[@Brahlam]

Great Video! Not just useful hints and tips but raising the challenge actually increases the fun.

[@ChristopherBurkholder]

Thanks Skye.... lots of stuff here that i learned from watching your playthrough. I will have to try the location and mission composition that you suggest. My first couple of attempts went badly wrong after about 100 sols. All of a sudden I was the proud owner of a ghost colony on Mars. So off to Mars I go... again...

[@alenzhang4854]

Christopher Burkholder I just choose game rules

[@progman965]

Thank you, that really helps. The big problem I ran into was not being able to build machine parts and electronics factories quickly enough and have them properly staffed. My colony failed because of lack of maintenance.

[@acefalcons4903]

Am 10 months far behind in commenting, but I have to send my big thanks to you for making that 30 high difficulty play through episodes. First 12 episodes I wanted to get the game and play it myself, but such enormity of investment of time diminished my desires due to regrettable lack of play time. I had to settle for vicariously playing the game myself through your videos instead. You did a 👍 job in humorous commentaries and I only clash between thoughts of, ‘Just bloody place it already!’ and the, ‘Why so impetuous and impulsive, man!’ lol. Thanks for the vicarious fun experience, Skye!

[@haegarNL]

Finaly! The first real tipps and hint video. Not just the other 200 „lets play and talk something“ clips ;)

[@patjohnson6329]

Thanks for all the tips. Now to put them into practice.

[@Adekyn100]

Excellent job. Really well done set of tips for Surviving Mars.

[@badejong]

Thanks Skye. Great tips. Something for everybody playing this game. You should do this more often. I like it!

[@BubbleboxStratGaming]

This is probably the best tips/tutorial video I have seen for this game. BTW you can place 10 sensors to get up to 100% scan boost to those far away sectors, thus keeping those anomalies coming in to help push your research forward. I believe 100% is the most so placing more than 10 is not necessary. Getting 10 sensors near the start of the game is expensive on parts but definitely worth it in my opinion to uncover those anomalies especially those that give events and beakers to push your research in the early game. Also they are free up-keep once you get the research, or set them up on a single network. Keep up the good work Skye and peace out.

[@masonsweetman9613]

Love your work Skye!!!!

[@mrmajkl2]

The best guide, mate! As always.

[@shewme71]

Absolutly loved this series, Please do another!!!!!!. i loved the idea of the solar panels in a dome that is barking crazy good idea.

[@icequeen7547]

Love it it will help me alot im waiting for your next series

[@TinieMx]

Thank you for these great tips! I just bought the game, and I can’t wait to get into it!

[@AngelPerez-fi7nk]

thank you for the tips. i have been playing it for a day and i am loving it

[@Wastelander2281]

Very helpful. There's alot to get to grips with in this game so this helped me out big time. Thanks.

[@jerseyjunior]

You are the best player, and teacher, of games on the internet. You are really that good Skye, thanks!

[@Blindarchangel82]

Very cool. Thanks for the tips Skye! There's some really good ones 😁

[@SkyeStorme]

Thanks Sam :)

[@draco9636]

Great serie and game. Have it my self now after watching this serie. Like that you always give insightful information on evry game serie you make Skye Storm. Keep it up.

[@cyvintyranea5329]

Thanks for the tips!! I always get impatient whilst playing and it never turns out how I want it

[@MrSammmessina]

I have hours invested in this game and had no idea about some of these tips and hints. great video!

[@oberdinger09]

Thanks for the tips. Just downloaded the game yesterday and forced myself through the tutorials. This helped a lot!

[@susanrossouw847]

Thank you. I have been struggling with this now for a while.

[@kingnothing77685]

This was incredibly helpful, thank you!

[@Elabuelo87]

thx for the tips dude, i will take this to improve my game now

[@bigal1093]

Thanks for this Skye ... nice to see everything that you talked about in the series brought into one place! Now excuse me ... I need to start my first game :)

[@lgmbasschannel8413]

Great tips! Thanks!

[@raidermaxx2324]

one year later, this video is still giving people great advice and tips for eveyone, noobs especially.. great stuff, subbing to your channel a year after this was made because of how it good it was.

[@tomwallen7271]

With you on tip 50. When I got my first Shuttle, my colony started to look frickin awesome.

[@mattbrassfield2291]

Found out something odd and cool about this game, the Recommended landing sites the Nodes stay the Same, the Custom Markets Change each day... Now i don't know if they change on a weekly rotation, but will update this is next Friday and let you know.

[@persefonerestinpeace7982]

Thank you so much! Your video helps a LOT!

[@cronus7500]

Awesome tips Skye! Can't wait to apply some of them to my own colony; such as the building shifts to control power consumption trick! I was constatly curioious why my power values were all over the place; It's because my buildings stop consuming power when not in use! Totally makes sense now hahaha.

[@SkyeStorme]

Yeah it's something I need to pay more attention too in the future :)

[@ThePlagueCreator]

That was a very great collection of tips for someone who hasn’t really gotten into the game yet. Thanks for the tips!!!

[@mancamiatipoola]

This is an absolute fantastic beginner guide! TY mr Skye! I learned a lot from this and it should be a must watch for any new player. I have one tip too: In the beginning always take a RC Transporter with you. The 4 probes are a must so you can scan 4 sectors to determine your initial landing zone. You don't need any drones, as you can simply get 2 prefab drone hubs which come with 4 drones each. However i consider an RC Commander a must since he also comes with 4 drones. You can get extra rare resources instead of drones. Always land your rocket close to 1 or 2 concrete deposits and relatively close to Water and research anomalies. Always leave a wide space around a research anomaly as you can build as many as 3 domes around it that will all get bonuses to research. Before you land pause the game, set up your research queue and scan sectors queue. Leave an empty space next to your original landing pad to build a second landing pad and later on a third as you get into trading. The first 2 LPs will cycle your 2 rockets to and from Earth or Mars research projects, while the third can be used for trading resources. Try to place universal and specific depots around your landing pads, while your fuel depots separated away from anything else in case a meteor lands on them... Use your second rocket to bring more resources and FOOD and your third rocket to bring in the first colonists. You can have your first dome operational by the end of week two. Last but not least always use your RC transport to gather resources. Think of it as a Red Alert harvester that has to keep on workin. :) Enjoy this awesome game!

[@raspvidy]

Great video, thank you!

[@faytatreides6894]

I gave these settings on the EU ps4 version on this game. Its not the same. The difficult is at 230% and you get a different starting map. Thanks for the tips.

[@kjetilhjertholmjensen163]

I didn't know at least half of it. Thanks, this was gold

[@kemalcihattoprakc1423]

I just started the game and your video helped me a lot. Thank you!

[@jamesmerrill613]

Great tips, I’ve just started playing this game and love it. Added tip, in a crisis of no recourses and no cash, spare electronics can be obtained by salvaging rockets and rovers. Saved my factories during the earth war when access to earth was cut off. 👍🏻

[@Saaihead]

Very helpful, thanks mate!

[@shusannaha2895]

Awesome!Thank you 😊

[@LMJFPHOTOGRAPHY]

Great video mate. Some helpful tips. Cheers

[@SymeonPhronema]

I learned a lot from this video, thank you for making it. Any tips on what the optimal first dome layout would be by chance?

[@XCrawlFan]

Looking forward to more, Skye as always.

[@benrudolph5582]

Great video, thank you.

[@lunuria6123]

Great video. Thanks!

[@Drew-vv9ef]

18:44 if u want to use heavy workload as a permanent solution, make sure everyone in a certain shift is workaholic. Then, u can leave heavy workload permanently on. Just be careful if the workaholics get old and stop working. In that case u will need more workaholics or to stop heavy workload.

[@tfishr]

In the early game on very difficult settings, some structures might accidentally end up outside command range before you can build drone hubs. All is not lost. You can manually direct drones to perform maintenance outside of command range. Tell the drone to pick up some maintenance materials, tell the building to request maintenance, then you can tell the drone to perform maintenance. It's a very tedious process but it can get you through some tight spots until you can land a rocket to reestablish the drone command network.

[@Aetlaify]

Fantastik tips brother. Many thanks, appreciated! Subbed

[@spicybaguette7706]

6:50 Hello there.

[@kalimatronix]

General Kenobi.

[@MrSharp905]

you rock man, awesome tips and ending :) thanks

[@jakehyle7118]

Very nice, thanks.

[@VATROU]

My first run has been a razors edge. For the longest time I was barely surviving and was lucky enough to unlock Extractor AI early on upping my production and lessening my need for colonists. However with the inefficient way I built my colony I wish I had tried to keep more compact and neat lines and supply routes. Overall I have two wonders, The Artificial Sun and the Space Elevator which was built first and saved my game, as I had just started the endgame of Marsgate and my supplies were nearly exhausted.

[@TeamEliteUSA]

Great Explanation!!!!

[@AJTupman]

Nice guide Skye, thanks.

[@irend1163]

Tips : if you already see Triboelectric scrubber in your research tree, quick research it, build it on the place you want(they reduce maintenance) and if you overlap the range of the Triboelectric scrubber, you will have an area with no need maintenance

[@thomaskositzki9424]

This is actually a good tutorial-video! You know your stuff. :) There are a number of tips/tutorial videos for Surviving Mars which are made by clueless people.

[@Kenjirou69]

Thank you very much for this guide. :D

[@siamakp1207]

Thanks a lot for this video :)

[@Tubeite]

Goddamn, I've had this game for a year now and I've only just realized you can actually build spires in small domes. I always assumed they were too small to house spire buildings.

[@baduploadschedule1015]

I got 250% on my first playthrough and got a lucky pop up event that let me research the Mohole mine, safe to say once that was built I pretty much already “won”

[@stevefulgione4231]

Thanks so much! This will save me a lot of mistakes. Much thanks!

[@pictureperfect.gaming]

Awesome vid Mr Storme ☺️

[@legiokrato61]

Great tips, saved me alot of time.

[@OhmIsFutile]

Lots of great tips. I understand you geared this video with the idea of inviting new players to start around 150% difficulty. That said, some of your first few tips are actually counter-productive as difficulty increases. Orbital probes take space and cost money whereas scanning is free over time. Time is a valuable resource alright, which is why building sensor towers is still a good idea. Similarly, the most important resources are rare metals and water. Rare metals allow you to make up for a lack of something by trading it in for money and moisture vaporators are expensive and annoying to set up early game, so having an alternate supply of water is huge. Extra drones are especially worthless on the first rocket of a difficult playthrough. The drone swarm tech always appears fairly early and you can always bring more drones in later rockets if the load gets to be too much. Otherwise, stellar job. I didn't even know there were many models for some buildings and building some utilities inside domes could definitely be helpful on some of the more difficult maps.

[@thesarge4028]

Ohm is Futile Metals extraction shouldn’t start until you have at least 24 to 30 colonists. You could essentially do it early after your first passenger rocket but its power demanding and very slow with just one or 2 colonists. But you make a good point nonetheless.

[@pdmkdz]

Nice one skye! Thanks a lot. Hope to see you soon back on youtube :)

[@crimsonraen]

Oooh, some of these tips are great! Especially that last one! ;)

[@waynegarrett1614]

Perfect tips Skye - ur the best!

[@kartoffsun]

Best Trick: Shift+C You get to fly around like Iron Man. (You fly faster with Ctrl) (You remove the interface with Ctrl+I) (Yes, the Space Elevator has an end) (I bet you want to see what's down the Mohole ;) :D) Magic.

[@irend1163]

How do you know what im doing?

[@mamado24x7]

awesome thanks!

[@Ak-qv7hj]

Good tips, thx

[@kimlarsen1098]

Nice to have you back Skye :)

[@SkyeStorme]

Thanks Kim :)

[@hazwan149]

Good job on the solar panels.. Didn't know you can put them in the dome.. You're genius!

[@jijik2675]

Thanks for the tips, subscribed immediately. Greetings from the netherlands

[@sharonishere]

Excellent stuff m8

[@gary0044187]

4 years later, good stuff man, I played enough in the last few days to see some graphical things don't quite line up, but the gist carries over. I wonder what differences I can expect from the dlcs.

[@bluerossegaming3269]

Tnx sky for this vid. Good tips that i will take.

[@kasperwikstrom]

This video was so usefull Thank you!!

[@savagesnayle7492]

lovely. nice presentation. Similar first payload as i use.